Deploying article identification and physical events monitoring technologies, such as radio frequency identification (RFID), in enterprise-wide scenarios pose significant challenges. Because a vast amount of identification and events data is generated from numerous disparate data acquisition devices, such as RFID readers, bar code scanners, video cameras, and other sensors, it can be challenging to intelligently process data such that information important to a business is effectively and efficiently isolated and analyzed, identification and events data is integrated and communicated with legacy Enterprise Information (EI) systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management (SCM) systems, and data are interpreted meaningfully to facilitate optimal business decisions and operations. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to proactively control and coordinate data acquisition systems such that they can be configured to acquire the best, and most important, event data in the light of historical data.
There currently exist remote data capture and processing systems such as retail Point-Of-Sale (POS) terminals, kiosks and vending machines deployed in stand-alone vertical applications such as a typical retail store inventory management system. Examples of such prior art systems are described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,294, entitled “POS terminal group management device with memory for pre-storing different collection data ranges for each POS terminal”, describes a transaction processing system including a plurality of POS terminal devices (cash registers), a POS terminal group management device (cluster controller) and a sales management device (store controller), where totalized data are transmitted from the POS terminal devices to the sales management device through the POS terminal group management device in accordance with totalization pattern information respectively associated with each individual POS terminal device, which information is pre-stored in the group management device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,452, entitled “Mobile merchandising business management system which provides comprehensive support services for transportable business operations”, describes a computer based system for providing a business support services for mobile business operations such as merchandising carts and kiosks. The services include: i.) providing a two-way computerized communication link between the mobile business unit and a headquarters base station via radio telemetry or ground lines, ii.) a data capture facility which polls a variety of intelligent devices, such as temperature sensors and inventory level indicators, packages the data for subsequent transmission to the base station and summaries the data for display on the mobile system control panel, iii.) a base station communication facility which transmits messages and computer commands to remote carts and kiosks and initiates outbound paging, and iv.) a base station mass storage and reporting facility which stores historical data related to product sales, cashier settlement, inventory control and in bound messages for subsequent retrieval and reporting.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,754,704, entitled “Methods, systems, and computer program product for remote monitoring of a data processing system events”, describes methods, system, and computer program products that facilitate monitoring of data processing system events. For example, data processing system event data may be collected and sent to an event handler program module. Once the event handler program module receives the data processing system event data, a remote program module, which resides in a different address space than the event handler program module, may be notified. The data processing system event data may then be sent from the event handler program module to the remote program module. Data processing data may be sent from the event handler program module to the remote program module as events occur, thereby providing event notification in real-time.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,438,696, entitled “Security monitoring arrangement for a computer system”, describes an electronic point-of-sale (PoS) system comprising a network with a number of PoS terminals and a PoS server computer attached thereto. The PoS terminals and the PoS server interact over the network to perform conventional PoS transactions. Additionally, each of the PoS terminals monitors its own operation for predetermined security-related events (such as refunds or voids). Upon detection of such an event, the PoS terminal sends an alert message and data over the network to a control computer (which may be the PoS server computer, or may be a separate computer). The control computer responds to the alert message by activating a video camera and recorder to record a view of the PoS terminal, along with the data.
The prior art data acquisition and processing systems and methods are highly customized for operation in specific business scenarios, thereby acting as independent data acquisition systems that are not adaptable to the wide range of applications required by the large scale, varied legacy and EI systems typically deployed in large companies. These prior art systems are not configurable to implement changing business conditions and decision logic and therefore lack adaptability. Additionally, prior art systems lack the capability of using present and historical events data to strategically re-configure and/or re-deploy data acquisition systems for newer purposes.
Accordingly there is a need for a generic real-time events data acquisition and processing engine architecture that is deployable to encompass diverse business scenarios and also integrates a plurality of events data acquisitions systems with a plurality of EI systems, thereby allowing a two-way events and control data communication to enable organic adaptability.